Youth group leaders carry a lot of responsibility. You want your group members to be happy. You really want the parents to be happy. You’re responsible for managing money well. You have to compete with all of the distractions of the world.

You are the pack mules of the ministry world.

This is why youth leaders often struggle when it comes to planning a major event, such as a ski trip. Do you do all the work yourself, acting as a good steward of the youth group’s finances? Or do you delegate or hire someone to do the planning and organization so that you can focus on other aspects of your ministry? After all, each day is blessed with 24 hours, no matter how much you try to stretch it out.

While Ski Daddy can’t give you 25 hours in your day, he can drastically reduce the time you would spend planning a DIY ski trip, typically at a cost savings to your group.

Before You Go on Your Group Ski Trip

Ski Daddy sends over 200 groups on ski trips each year. This experience has given the team expertise and helped them develop the industry-leading service standards that their groups come back for year after year.

Ski Daddy’s knowledgeable staff is always on hand to answer your questions. The entire crew has been involved with planning ski trips for years, and most of them have visited the ski resorts they work with multiple times.

The staff works with you from the moment you get the idea you want to book a trip. They understand the timeline of planning a trip, and they understand the obstacles you will face on your end as you gather your group together. Usually they work with you for several months and become your single contact for everything – accommodations, equipment rentals, lift tickets, lessons, etc.

Ski Daddy has created a user friendly online program for your group. Your group will receive its own personal ski trip website, and members can sign up directly on the site. No tracking down paper forms for you. Your site will help manage payments, rooming lists, and additional costs that you need to add such as meeting space or transportation. Ski Daddy is constantly improving the interface to make it easier for you.

Once You Arrive on Your Group Ski Trip

Ski Daddy makes going skiing as easy as showing up. When you arrive at your resort, you’ll find lift tickets and lesson passes labeled with the name of each of your skiers. Your lodging will be prepared with a rooming list so check-in is a breeze. And Ski Daddy gives you the cell numbers of the team for you to contact in case of problems. No calling an office and waiting till morning or, worse, over the weekend for help.

Finally, Ski Daddy has been at this for over ten years with thousands of skiers. Ski Daddy has developed great relationships with many of the resorts, so that you get deals with Ski Daddy that you simply won’t be able to find on your own. All that service, all that time savings, and money saved to boot.

That’s hard to beat! Let Ski Daddy handle your ski trip while you focus on your youth ministry. If you are ready to book your group’s ski trip for this winter, get in touch. We can’t wait to get to work for you!

Send out teasers

Use email, facebook, twitter and other popular social media to send out teasers about your ski trip, announcing first day of registration. You can use Facebook’s scheduling feature to set these up all at once, or use a free app like Buffer to schedule across all the social media platforms.

Add text to photo and post them to Instagram. Ski Daddy may have a few pre-made pics for you in the near future. But in the meantime you can use free resources like PicMonkey to create your own.

Create a Pinterest group board for your group ski trip and allow your group to post to it. They can add pics of amazing boards and skis, skiwear, quotes about the mountains and outdoors, and photos of beautiful scenery. You can add some of those same teaser pics you used on Instagram to get the buzz going.

Have some fun with it

Offer to buy a snow cone for the best answer (Get it? Snow cone?), and invite the rest of the group along for a snow cone night.

Use video. Take advantage of your kids and their creativity and get them to make some fun clips for Vine or even some full promotional videos for You Tube.

Make sure the parents are in the know

Often parents rely on the church bulletin for their information. If that’s the case use the bulletin, and be sure the parents know things like when the sign ups begin and if there is an early sign-up discount.

Be sure to point parents to your group’s ski trip website provided by Ski Daddy in all your communications with them. Help them understand that this is where all the details about the trip are and that this is where they sign up. If you can get all your sign-ups on your website, it will save you a ton of time and energy.

You’ve made the plan, booked the trip, now all you need to do is get the group signed up. A little buzz now will equal a lot of sign ups come September!

Picture this: An amazing day on the slopes with your group, carving up powder at one of your favorite Colorado ski resorts, Crested Butte. You make the last run, head in to your beautiful group accommodations to shower up, and emerge to find a group dinner waiting for you in the hotel’s meeting space. After a great meal,the group is already gathered together enjoying fellowship and ready for the evening’s devotional.

You didn’t have to round anyone up or figure out what to do for dinner. It was already done. How great is that?

This is the experience your youth group can have at Crested Butte’s Elevation Hotel.

Elevation Hotel, Crested Butte

The ski-in/ski-out property is located at the base of Mt. Crested Butte, where you’ll find the ski lifts and shops just steps away. While you’ll get the cozy ski lodge vibe at Elevation, you’ll also appreciate the more modern, urban feel combined with it.

At the Elevation, you’ll find an indoor pool and hot tub, two outdoor hot tubs, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a full service spa, a salon, a restaurant and a lot more. In fact, you really don’t need to leave the hotel to feel like you’ve had an amazing vacation!

Meals at Elevation

At Elevation, each of the rooms has a kitchenette (including a convection oven/microwave, under counter refrigerator, and toaster) so your group can make breakfast in their rooms and have plenty of time to catch the first run of the day.

And to make life easier for the group leader, Elevation will serve catered group meals in the hotel meeting space. This is a great way to make sure everyone gets fed and still makes it to the evening’s activities on time.

Specials at Elevation Hotel for Christmas Break

Are you ready to get your ski trip on the books and get the best deal out there? Now is the time to book for Christmas break. Ski Daddy has a deal for groups of 20 or more with Elevation Hotel that’s going to be pretty hard to beat. Your group can check in on December 27 and enjoy four nights lodging, three days skiing, including lift tickets and equipment rentals. The rentals are at the base area and include free overnight storage, so no schlepping skis all over resort!

At $403 for adults and $385 for students this is a smoking deal.*

Are you ready to book your trip? We can help you with that. Just get in touch and we’ll take care of the rest.

*Rates based on four skiers per room. Meals must be arranged separately.

The sun is shining. The pools are open. School is closed. Summer has begun for your youth group.

As you prepare to jump into summer mission trips, service projects and swimming parties, it might seem like an odd time to start planning a group ski trip. After all, your kids are dressed in cut-offs and Sperry’s, not North Face and ski boots.

But if you’ve been in the youth ministry game for long, you understand the beauty of planning ahead. And the benefits of early preparation are particularly great for a ski trip. Ideally, summer is the best time to plan ahead for the best group ski trip.

Plan Ahead for the Best Deals on Your Group Ski Trip

You are likely to get better pricing when you book early. In summer, the resorts see lots of unoccupied rooms in their future and set prices accordingly. But as the ski season draws near, rooms are getting booked and the resorts know they will be able to sell the space they have remaining. So the closer to ski season you get, the higher the prices available to you.

Allow Your Group to Make Smaller Payments Over More Time

Earlier booking allows you to space out payments. Making 5 payments of $100 rather than 2 payments of $250 is a big benefit for many skiers. When money is tight, spreading out the payments can make the difference between a group member going on the trip or staying home.

Book Early for the Best Selection of Resort Accommodations

When you book your group ski trip in the summer, you’ll have more choices because most resorts still have plenty of availability. If you have a particular lodge you want to stay in, book now! If you wait till fall, the spots start getting booked, and you may not end up in your first choice.

Plan Ahead and Look Like the Rock Star Youth Pastor that You Are

When you book your group ski trip in the summer, you have the opportunity to kick off the ski trip promotions on September 1. You’ll have all the details – dates, lodging, costs, and payment schedules. Students and their parents will know exactly what they are signing up for and will be more willing to say yes with all the info in front of them.

Your group ski trip will fill up earlier so you can plan your activities sooner, and quit worrying about who’s going and who’s not.

And in the end, everyone is going to love that organized youth pastor.

Oh No! Summer is over and I Still Haven’t Booked My Group Ski Trip

That’s okay. When you book your group ski trip in the summer, there are some great benefits. However, at Ski Daddy we are here to take care of the details and help you keep your group organized, no matter how early or late you book. Between our personalized service and the technology we provide to manage all the administrative tasks for you, you will have a great trip and you’ll be amazed at how easy it was to pull it off.

Ski Daddy takes the stress out of Ski Trips. They take care of every detail and make group leaders look like they have everything together. – John (Group of 20 to Keystone)

Their support is amazing and they do basically everything for you – you just show up! – Alana (Group of 50 to Winter Park)

Are you ready to plan your trip? We are ready to get you started. Just get in touch, and we’ll handle the rest.

Cool mountain air, breathtaking scenery, gourmet foods, craft brews, and your favorite music. This is a recipe for a perfect summer evening, and the Rocky Mountains offer plenty of opportunities to enjoy precisely these things at their abundance of summer music festivals. If you want to escape the summer heat and enjoy the cool mountains, perhaps you should plan your trip to coincide with one of these fantastic events.

This event runs August 28 through September 1 and features the Vail Jazz Party House Band as well as multiple jazz groups and soloists. Sponsored by the Vail Jazz Foundation, this event will leave the most obsessed jazz fan satisfied.

This is the festival to attend when you want a taste of every style of music. From jazz to bluegrass or opera to straight up classical, you will find music you’ve always loved and new styles to appreciate. Here’s a sample of the performance line up:

This festival runs June 19-28 and features such headliners as Diana Krall, Steve Winwood and Tony Bennett. The JAS June Festival also features a free nightly lawn party with music, food and beverage vendors and two live stages.

The Ride Festival starts on June 11 and features two jam-packed (get it….jam-packed!) days of music. How about a little Joan Osborne, White Denim or Vintage Trouble? Or maybe Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros? Or maybe the Harlem Gospel Choir? Really you won’t go wrong in Telluride.

We’re just scratching the surface here, because Colorado offers pretty much non-stop music all summer. What about you? Do you have a Colorado music festival to recommend to Ski Daddy fans? We’d love to hear about it.